Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/175

 162 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [Jise, 1875. boulders cropping up on the ridge top which it spans ; at C there is a considerable hollow en- closed by a rude wall, and at D a flat thickly- lichened natural surface of rock, enclosed by a massive wall, fourteen yards in diameter, with boulders : under this, at E, there is another smaller walled enclosure, four yards in diame- ter. is on the slope on one side of the ridge, and J) and E on the slope on the other The elegant Maiden-hair Fern (.!-/' ). now become scarce about 1 ia- kumaud, grows abundantly amid the stones of I). About a hundred yards northward of the breastwork there are many stone-rings barely visible in the grass on the top of the ridges in some of them yielded no results. The position, flanked and fronted by steep slopes, is Strong, and the In-fast work might, urarily at least, resist invaders coming he Segur Puss from the ICaisur plateau, erwise it is difficult to imagine natives resorting to these heights, so hateful to them, so delightful to Europeans, Bat the circular appendages at each end of the breastwork peem problen i at I». enclosing a fiat table of rock, might -i dreams of a place of sacrifice. enterM as it is through a stately rocky portal ; but speculation were hazardous. I do not kno nitiquity has been notii g near skilled archaeologists. Still nearer the canton^ mettt, UOt for behind 'Sylk's Hotel,' at thi of a long steep slope leading downwards towards the valley and ridge already mentioned, ti another crescent-shaped breastwork. :!' : ', yards between the tips, with traces of smaller works aeh tip. As noi onoonneoted with this subject, I ma? " the K or war-trenchc scribed in the Rev. G. ].lichter' a Mo/mto 190-391) ; these are enormous trenches led by a, bonk of tins excavated soil, and ptcfa over hills, h i ■ i compan ly flat countries, for miles and miles, at some I dares branching off in varions directions, or encircling hill-tops.'' Mr. Kiel:: tes & records to show that they were constructed by P. ijas to fortify the principality. In South Kimara also these trenches abound ; one sees them carried in all directions for long distances, and in a manner hard to reconcile with purposes of defence or boundary ; — indeed their use for either purpose mnst have been wholly incommensurate with the labour ex- pended upon ( hem. So, too, " great and massive walls eight feet high, half as thick, and extending for long distances, are found buried in deep forest on the crest of the ghats between Kanara and Maisur, with large trees rooted in them :" the Kanarese term for such remains —i.t-<j<jiiiit— curiously corresponds with the Latin Mr. Bicbier further quotes a passage bearing upon the matter from the Fortnightly • r : — " Probably no country iu the world possesses so many ancient earthworks — certainly none upon such a stupendous scaler — as England. They are extremely difficult oi" access, from the steepness of the mountain height on which they were formed. Undoubtedly this is the most ancient species of rampart known: it existed ages before the use of mural fortifications, and originated in all probability with the nations of the East." The huge dykes in Wiltshire are especially noteworthy, and as an exemplar, and ape the greatest, of all, 1 may mentis Wansdyke, which mi t earthwork reach- ed from the liritish Channel across Son and Wilts to the woodlands of Berkshire is still t i act able in mony places. Whether this was a JcaAangn or war-trench, or a boundary line between tribes, is debated by antiemi It has been pertinently remarked that to gar- rison i t would require an a • r of men, and it has J rally regarded as a Belgic boundary. One may observe, however, that the «_-rcnt wall of China, which falls within the category of these prodi- gious works of antiquity, was certainly intended for defence, Upon the whole question of I surprising iwsr in England, B or Kanara, it may be finally added, in I of the writer quoted by Mr. Richter, that ".the u itemization of labour necessary for car them out i of society in pre- historic times utterly incompatible with the I toe pos- sible supposition— repugnanl enough to prevail- ing notions, bi any oonsiden : seem to point .historic may hare b . . where vastly more populous khan the present.
 * m entrance at the top between two tall natural
 * md u fugitive RAja mighl now and then have
 * amand it might be worth a visit from